


And By Opposing End Them

by bellatemple



Series: Hawk from a handsaw [1]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Fix-It, Gen, Post-Canon, Season/Series 04, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 19:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20262958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellatemple/pseuds/bellatemple
Summary: Early morning, late April, Dwight finds a man collapsed against a pillar on the beach where the Colorado Kid was found. It's Duke Crocker, strangled and half-dead, and he has a plan to keep Haven from suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. . . .





	And By Opposing End Them

**Author's Note:**

> To be, or not to be--that is the question:  
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer  
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune  
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles  
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--  
No more--and by a sleep to say we end  
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks  
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation  
Devoutly to be wished. . . .  
\-- Hamlet, Act 3, scene 1
> 
> (yeah, this isn't ENTIRELY written just to use that title, but it's not NOT written just to use that title)

Finding a body slumped against old pylons on the beach just before dawn was a very Haven sort of "good morning". Sometimes Dwight really hated this town. 

He made his way carefully over the rocks, hands on the butt of his taser, and tried to work out what sort of Trouble this might be almost before he was certain whether the man lying there was alive or dead. 

"Hey buddy," he called, wondering if there was even the slightest chance he'd luck out and find out the guy was just a drunk who hadn't made it to a bed last night. "You can't sleep here." 

The man raised his head sluggishly, and Dwight's eyes went wide. "Mornin' to you too, Sasquatch." 

"Duke." Dwight let go of his taser, dropping into a crouch just out of arm's reach. "We thought you were dead." 

Duke let out a dry, ragged chuckle. "So did I." He propped his head up on the pylon behind him, and Dwight let out a sympathetic hiss. Duke had clearly been attacked; livid bruises ringing his neck, with fainter ones across the lower half of his face. His skin was mid-winter pale otherwise, though it was nearly May. Dwight wondered how long he'd been lying there, if the tide had come and gone. 

It hadn't escaped his notice that they were in the same spot — and Duke in the same position — that the Colorado Kid had been found. 

"Gotta say." Duke's voice was barely audible over the low rush of the surf behind him. "Sucked a lot less when I was dead." 

Dwight pulled out his phone, calling Laverne for an ambulance. "You're gonna be okay," he told Duke by rote. It was probably even true; Duke was too stubborn to stay down long. Duke flashed him a pained smile and spoke again. Dwight had to lean in to hear him properly. 

"Did it work?" Duke asked. "Is she real?" 

Dwight frowned. "Is who real, Duke?" 

"Lizzie." 

Dwight stiffened, his hand clenching with the urge to lash out. "What do you know about my daughter?" 

Duke frowned and coughed, one hand going shakily to his throat before dropping back to his lap. "Was easier when I didn't have to talk." HIs head wobbled on his neck, his gaze wandering off. Dwight grabbed him by the collar. 

"What about my daughter, Duke?!" 

"It didn't work?" Duke's expression fell, looking even more pained by whatever was going through his clearly addled head than he was by the damage to his throat. "I'm so sorry. I thought — I really thought it would work." 

Dwight got both hands in Duke's collar now, his breath going fast. "Thought _what_ would work?!" 

Duke frowned harder, eyes focussing on Dwight's chest. "Vest," he said and Dwight was sure he couldn't have heard that right. "You're still Troubled." 

"They never went away." Dwight heard sirens approaching and forced himself to calm, unclenching his hands from Duke's jacket. "Audrey went into the Barn for nothing." 

Duke's eyes went wide, his breath wheezing in his chest. He rolled his head, staring around and nearly collapsing as he twisted to look out to sea. Dwight barely kept him from face-planting onto the rocks. "No shroud," he said. "No, no no no. . . ."

"What shroud?" The siren whined to a stop as the ambulance pulled up to the edge of the rocks. Dwight hauled Duke upright again, trying to get him to focus before the EMTs made him back off. "Duke, what the hell happened to you?" 

Duke choked on a humorless laugh and gagged, hands coming up to scrabble at his neck again. Dwight helped him clear the layers of his clothes aside (his winter jacket, which he hadn't been wearing yet that day at Kick'Em Jenny Neck, and several grungy looking shirts besides), but Duke still couldn't seem to catch his breath. The soft tissues were swelling, Dwight guessed. He wouldn't get anything else intelligible out of Duke until after he'd been triaged at the very least. 

"Figures," he said softly, stepping aside to give the EMTs room to work. "You disappear for six months and come back insane." 

Duke let out a strangled noise somewhere between a laugh and a moan and collapsed into the tender hands of emergency services.

*

"Duke's back from the dead," Vince said, not even a 'how do you do' for preamble. He stepped up beside Dwight, looking through the window into the hospital room where a groggy Duke was just discovering the oxygen mask on his face and the cuff around his wrist.

Dwight nodded, casting the old man a sidelong glance. "Found him this morning on the beach. Looks like he's been through the ringer." 

"Are you sure it's him?" Dave asked, appearing on Dwight's other side. "His hair's different." 

"So was Audrey's," Vince said. "And Lucy's." 

"Exactly," Dave said, arguing across Dwight's chest like Dwight wasn't even there. "Who's to say that's even Duke and not — Steve, or — or Paul, or some other man grafted onto Duke's brain?" 

"I am." Dwight lifted his hand so Dave would back off. "I talked to him." 

"How?" Vince asked. "The nurse said he'd been strangled." 

"And smothered," said Dave. 

Dwight scowled, making a mental note to have a word with the nursing staff about talking to the Teagues. Or anywhere near the Teagues. "Not well," he said. "And now he needs to rest, so I'd thank you not to try to question him." At least not until after Dwight had had the chance to do it himself. 

He had to know what Duke knew about LIzzie. 

"If you want him to rest," Dave said. "Why is he handcuffed?" 

Vince straightened. "Because, Dave, he shot Jordan!" 

Dwight sighed and nodded. "Word's going to get out. As long as he's in cuffs, I'm hoping Jordan's friends will hold off on calling for his blood." 

"That's not a bad plan," Vince said. "But — what are you going to do about the other one?" 

Dwight bit back a groan. "The other _what?_" 

"The other Duke," said Dave. "He and Nathan will be arriving in an hour." 

"Duke called Dave," Vince said, even as Dwight twisted to stare at his brother. "Said he landed in the Boston Aquarium this morning. Fell out of the Barn." 

"Or was kicked out," said Dave. "And he didn't sound like he'd been strangled." 

"Or smothered."

Dwight rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I hate this job." 

In the hospital room, Duke — or someone who, hair aside, looked exactly like him — rattled the chain keeping him attached to the bed rail and squeaked out a couple vowel sounds Dwight was pretty sure were supposed to be his and Vince's names. Duke looked downright offended by the cuffs, which added another point to the "really is Duke" column. Dave lifted his hand in a wave, and Duke's eyes went wide. This time, Dwight was pretty sure that squeaked vowel was supposed to be "fuck". 

"We have a Guard contingent waiting to meet Duke and Nathan when they arrive," Vince said. "I suspect you'd like to be there as well." 

"And when you have a chance," Dave said. "We should talk about the _other_ body found on the beach this morning." 

They left Dwight standing there, staring at what may or may not be the evil twin of a man Dwight almost considered a friend, wishing he'd had time for more coffee this morning before Haven blew up on him again.

*

Dwight handed Duke a dry-erase board first thing. Duke looked at it with a scowl and an unintelligibly raspy complaint, shaking the wrist still cuffed to the bed.

"Suck it up, buttercup," Dwight growled back. "Doc says you want to get your voice back later, you can't use it now." Duke glared intently at him, eyebrow twitching as though he were trying to beam a sarcastic quip straight into Dwight's head. Dwight shrugged. "Don't blame me, blame the guy who strangled you. And smothered you." Duke glared a moment longer, then propped the board on his knees and awkwardly scribbled on it. Dwight wondered if he'd accidentally cuffed Duke's dominant hand, or if he just had terrible handwriting. 

_Why the cuffs?_ Duke wrote. 

"You shot Jordan McKee." 

Duke frowned like this was news to him, then rolled his eyes. _She shot Nathan first. Probable cause._

Dwight shrugged and Duke huffed an exaggerated sigh before erasing the board and starting again. 

_6 Mos since Hunter?_

Dwight nodded. "That's right." A bit weird he needed the confirmation, but maybe not if he was a doppelganger. "Where have you been?" 

Duke was already writing before Dwight was done asking, his hand jerky with either nerves or aggression. _Get Wade out of Haven._

The word "out" was underlined three times. 

"Your brother?" Dwight frowned. How did Duke even know Wade was here? "Why?" 

Duke opened his mouth, croaked, then gave up and underlined "out" several more times. Dwight held up his hands. 

"If he's the one who hurt you —" 

Duke threw the board at him, his face a mask of irritation and impatience. Dwight threw the same expression right back at him before firmly setting the board back in his lap. 

"Then tell me what happened." 

Duke looked at the badge on Dwight's vest pointedly and started to cross his arms over his chest, only to pull up short thanks to the handcuffs. He was practically radiating "I don't talk to cops." 

Dwight had had enough. "Fine." He stood and started for the door. "I'll go talk to the other Duke then. He and Nathan are due in town any minute." 

Duke didn't even blink at that, just stared out the window, his expression unreadable. Dwight sighed, considered trying a new tactic, then gave in and turned to leave. Vince was right, he needed to be with the Guard when they met up with Nathan if he wanted to spare the town more bloodshed. 

The dry erase board hit Dwight in the back of the head. When he turned to glare, Duke was back to staring out the window. Dwight picked up the board and flipped it over. 

_Marion Caldwell_

Well. That was ominous.

*

Nathan Wuornos's return to Haven went about as well as Dwight could have hoped — meaning not well at all, but at least without anyone leaving in an ambulance or a body bag. Vince kept mum about the other Duke, which wasn't surprising. If he wasn't trying to use it for leverage, Vince could keep a secret like nobody's business. The Duke that arrived with Nathan was refreshingly normal: long-haired, belligerent, and loud, and yet surprisingly kind to the rather lost young woman they'd brought with them. Duke had never been quite as big of an asshole as he pretended to be, but it still surprised Dwight to see him treat Jennifer with care and respect, and not even a hint of a leer.

This Duke, he was sure, had no knowledge of the other one under lock and key at the hospital. He also insisted the last six months had been all but a few moments to him. 

Dwight didn't have time to dwell on that, though. The strange weather events around town had reached their climax, and their prime suspect was Marion Caldwell. Dwight managed a call to the hospital while Nathan was talking her down, but the storm she'd kicked up messed with the signal and all he got was noise. 

Somehow, he couldn't even bring himself to be surprised when he got back to Duke's room and found it empty, the handcuffs locked around the rail on one end, and empty air on the other.

*

There were two places in Haven where you could almost always count on finding Duke Crocker, three if you counted "where there was Trouble". He wasn't on his boat.

The Gull was hopping when Dwight arrived, Wade having proved to be an even better bar owner than his younger brother was. It'd never been Dwight's kind of place; he preferred smaller, warmer bars like the one McHugh worked in to upscale party destinations full of fruity cocktails, but he knew his way around it well enough. He'd even stopped in to check on it a few times since Wade took over. Dwight made note of Duke's truck in the parking lot and headed into the crowd, wondering which version of Duke he was going to find. 

He spotted the telltale ponytail just before Wade slammed his brother into the doorframe, looking pissed. 

"You're a goddamn psycho, Duke," Wade hissed. Duke only gaped at him in response. Dwight reached over to pull Wade off of him. 

"There a problem here, Crocker?" he asked. "Crockers?" Duke shook his head, openly bewildered. Wade pulled back, still pissed. 

"No. Duke doesn't want me here, that's fine." Duke opened his mouth to protest, and Wade shoved him into the door frame again. "You're welcome, by the way. Next time you end up dead, I'll just let your stuff get auctioned off by the cops." 

He turned and swept out, leaving Duke — and most of the bar's patrons — staring. Jennifer laid into Duke, demanding to know what that was all about. Dwight left her to it. 

He knew exactly what that was all about. Jennifer was asking the wrong Duke. 

There was no sign of Duke's particular profile anywhere else in the main room that Dwight could see, so he headed for the back, checking the kitchen and the offices before stepping out onto the deck. He frowned, turning his gaze up towards Audrey's old apartment. 

Something moved in the dark up there, rustling the curtains. 

Dwight took the stairs three at a time, his hand resting on his taser. He entertained the idea for just a moment that Audrey was back, hiding away up here to avoid having to kill Nathan, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't be that lucky. 

He was not. 

He also wasn't lucky enough to find the damn door unlocked. 

He peered through a crack in the curtains, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun with his hands, and let himself sigh when he saw who it was. He rapped on the door with his knuckle. 

"Open up, Duke." 

Duke, the creepier, short-haired version, stiffened, but continued to toss the apartment without turning. Dwight sighed. 

"I have reasonable suspicion of a crime being committed," he said. "I can bust in if I have to." 

Duke held up one hand, middle finger raised. Dwight backed up and kicked in the door, coming in with his taser drawn. 

Duke turned and raised an eyebrow. "Always with the fucking taser." His voice was dry, barely more than a whisper, but at least it was audible again. Dwight had a feeling that had more to do with the bottle of scotch he had in his hand than anything the doctors had done. 

"What are you doing here, Duke?" Dwight asked. 

"Checking on my rental property," Duke said. "You?" 

"What'd you do to Wade?" 

Duke smiled. "Saved his damn life." He took a swig from his bottle. "Jordan's too. And a few other people. I'm a damn hero." 

Dwight considered tasing him just on principle. "How do you figure? What the hell do you think you know?" 

"Everything." Duke turned his back on Dwight, opening the drawers in Audrey's kitchen and rifling through their contents. "You gonna arrest me for it?" 

"Maybe," Dwight said, even as he lowered his taser. "Especially if you don't start giving me some real answers here. Like how you knew about Wade and Marion, or why there are two of you in town right now. Or what you know about my daughter." 

Duke turned to look at him again, twisting his whole body rather than turning his head. The bruises on his throat stood out even in the relative dark of the apartment. He looked Dwight up and down, as though considering whether he was going to bother to answer, then shrugged. 

"Time travel," he said, and took another swig of his scotch. "Obviously." 

"This is a Trouble," Dwight said. Duke snorted and tossed his free hand in the air, and yes, Dwight knew it was kind of an obvious thing to say, but Duke didn't have to be a dick about it. "You really think I'm going to believe you're from the future." 

Duke shrugged. "You have a sister in Cincinnati. You should check on her, by the way." 

Dwight shook his head, frowning. He didn't know exactly where his sister was. They hadn't spoken in years. "You could have looked that up. Maybe cased the town before turning up on that beach." 

The look Duke gave him at that was withering. "Right," he said, his voice breaking. He took another pull off the bottle of scotch. "In all the free time I had while my throat was closing up." He turned back to his search. Dwight put his taser away and moved in to grab him by the arm. 

"Talk to me. What the hell is going on here? Did the Barn do something to you?" 

Duke shrugged his arm out of Dwight's grip, stumbling back a step. "I am so far past the Barn, 'Squatch." He cleared out the last drawer and leaned on the counter with a faint growl. "It's not _here_." 

Dwight felt like he was six or seven steps behind this Duke, and it was really starting to piss him off. "_What_ isn't?!" 

"Audrey's ring." Duke ran his hand through his hair and pushed away from the counter, stalking halfway across the apartment towards the bed. "She must have it on her. Fuck." 

"Probably," Dwight agreed. "It's her ring." He leaned on the counter instead of following, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn't sure what Duke was after here, exactly, but it didn't seem to be immediately dangerous. The Duke he knew always seemed to be working some kind of angle, but it was usually one that helped people in the long run, especially if it involved either Audrey or Nathan. "You want to fill me in on your plan here? Maybe I can help." 

Duke looked at him for a good, long time, then looked away. He huffed, sighed, then seemed to come to a decision. He lifted his hand. 

Nothing happened. 

He frowned and did it again. 

Dwight tilted his head and pursed his lips. "What are you doing?" 

"No freezing Trouble," Duke said. "Dammit." 

"Well, no," Dwight agreed. "_Duke_ doesn't have a freezing Trouble." 

Duke rolled his eyes. "Here." He held the bottle of scotch out. "You're probably going to want a hit of this." Dwight took it warily. Duke smirked at him, maintained eye contact, and proceeded to walk directly through a support pillar, Audrey's bed, and the far wall like there was nothing there. 

"Okay," Dwight said to the empty air, hand tight around the bottle. "That explains the cuffs at the hospital, at least." 

Duke came back in through the wall next to Dwight, startling him and nearly making him drop the bottle. "Like I said. I am _so far_ past the Barn." 

"Who the hell are you?" Dwight demanded, pulling his taser again. "How do you look like Duke?" 

Duke sighed. "You know who I am, man. I — look. You remember when Jordan called me a sponge?" 

Dwight frowned. "No." 

"With the evil blood —" Duke cut himself off and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Right. Fuck. Jennifer was there. That hasn't happened yet." He looked up again, and Dwight noticed the depth of the lines on his face under the bruising, the gray shadows under his eyes. He looked old in a way the Duke Dwight remembered never had. Wrung out. 

_Jordan called him a sponge._

"The Crocker Trouble," Duke said. "It doesn't end Troubles, it collects them. In the next few weeks, something's going to happen that activates them all. Except it won't now, because I'm going to _stop it_." 

And that — God help him, but that actually made some kind of sense to Dwight. He'd never fully bought the story of Duke's Trouble; murdering people to save their families was the right kind of cruel for Haven, but the Troubles just being _gone_ wasn't. "Which means you can phase now," he said. Duke nodded. "And travel through time." 

"Fuck, man." Duke shook his head and threw his hands in the air again. "Apparently? That part wasn't actually planned." His voice faded to a croak at the end of his sentence, and he gingerly rubbed his neck. Dwight offered him the scotch bottle back, watching him as he took another sip. 

"I'll help you," he said, and Duke choked. "But at some point, you're going to have to tell me who did that to you." 

Duke pressed his hand against his chest, coughing, and set the bottle down on the counter. "You mean who killed me? Nathan did." 

"Seriously?" Dwight frowned. He knew Duke and Nathan had their history, but with the way Nathan had reacted when he thought Duke was dead, Dwight had figured they'd gotten past it. "Why?" 

Duke shrugged. "I asked him to." 

Dwight didn't know what to say to that. He didn't have much time to think it over, as someone burst through the door. He and Duke both looked up. 

Jennifer and Duke stared back. 

"What," said Duke, the one by the door, "the _hell_." 

Duke waved. "Hiya Duke." 

Jennifer stared back and forth between them. "Yeah. Remind me again about how I'm _not_ crazy?" 

"Not that I'm not flattered," Duke — the long-haired one, Dwight was considering the wisdom of dubbing them "Duke One" and "Duke Two" — said, one hand raised, the other tucked behind his back, probably reaching for a gun. "But you kinda fucked up the details around the mouth there." He put his free hand to his lips. "And the hair." 

"Yeah, well." Short-haired Duke smirked tiredly. "Got tired of it always hanging in my face." He looked at Jennifer and his expression softened, irritation and exhaustion fading into melancholy and wistfulness. "Hey Jennifer." 

Jennifer backed up, ducking partway behind her Duke. "I don't know you." 

The short-haired Duke nodded, resigned. "Yeah," he said. "And if I get this right, you'll never have to." 

"Who are you?" The long-haired Duke — you know what? Dwight was just going to call him "Crocker" — demanded. He shot a look at Dwight, made a noise of frustration, and let go of the gun in the back of his pants. "Get _what_ right?" 

Duke looked at Dwight. "I'm not explaining this again." 

Dwight sighed and straightened up from his lean against the counter. "He's you," he said to Crocker. "From the future." 

Crocker shook his head. "Yeah, no. I don't think so." 

Jennifer raised her hand. "Is that somehow more crazy than me overhearing a supernatural Barn?" 

"We've done it before," Duke said, smirking at Crocker. 

Crocker scoffed. "Yeah, and it nearly _broke time_. I know the rules. Unless you remember being me right now, you're seriously fucking up the future." 

Duke leaned his shoulder against the support pillar he'd walked right through a minute ago. He looked away, out through the window and over the water. Crocker blanched, though he still didn't quite reach the same level of pale Duke had achieved. "Shit." 

Jennifer looked between them, then cast a pleading eye towards Dwight. "What? What am I missing?" 

Dwight offered her a small smile. "If Duke's come back to change the past," he said. "That means the future's already —" 

"Fucked," Crocker said, voice barely there. He shook it off. "No. This is some kind of trick. You're a — a chameleon. Except instead of killing me, you just look dead yourself." 

Duke shrugged. “Two words.” Crocker’s eyes went wide. “Jimmy Ste —“

“Fine!” Crocker said quickly. “You know things! That’s just great!” He threw his hands in the air and paced towards the door. “Jesus, and I thought missing the last six months was fucked up.”

“Yeah,” Duke said, actually sounding sympathetic. “That ends up being kind of a drop in the bucket.”

Jennifer looked between the two of them like she was watching the world’s most horrifying tennis match. “This is so weird. Do you believe him now?”

Crocker opened and closed his mouth a few times, then shrugged. “No. But I’ll play along.”

Dwight nodded. He was pretty sure that was as good as they were going to get. “Alright. Duke.“

The Dukes exchanged a look, then both looked back at Dwight, their expressions similar enough to give him a headache. Dwight rubbed his forehead pointed to each of them. “You're Duke. You're Crocker.”

“Fair,” Duke said. 

"Wait, why does he get to be Duke?" Crocker asked. "I'm the real one!" 

Duke sighed. "We're _both_ the real ones." 

“You know, he could be Dead Duke,” Crocker suggested. “I’ll even help make it official.”

“Tried that already,” Duke said with a shrug. “Didn’t stick.”

Crocker looked faintly appalled. 

“_Duke_,” Dwight said firmly, pointed at the one he wanted. He had a feeling the Dukes could go all day if they weren’t regularly discouraged. “Audrey’s ring is out. What’s your plan B?”

Duke gave a small nod and turned his head to look out the window. “Nathan.”

"Nathan," Crocker repeated, incredulous. "'Nathan' isn't a plan." 

Duke shrugged. "He's a better option than Charlotte." 

Crocker looked at Dwight, then Jennifer, then back at Duke. "Who the hell is Charlotte?!" 

"This?" Dwight said. "This is why people hate you." 

"The flailing?" Duke asked. 

Dwight sighed. He was referring to the dramatics, generally, whether it was flailing like Crocker, or being deliberately vague like Duke. "Sure," he said, not feeling much like trying to explain it. "That too." 

"Maybe we should start at the beginning," Jennifer suggested. "And, um. I guess call Nathan?" 

"Sure, yeah." Crocker pulled a phone out of his pocket. Dwight wondered idly how it was he always seemed to have one of those, even after a day that apparently started with getting dumped into a seal tank in Boston. He probably had them stashed all over the Gull along with all the guns. "At least he won't be able to feel the massive headache of this whole . . . thing." 

Duke chuckled. 

"Nathan," Crocker said into the phone. "Learn to _answer your damn phone._ I'm with Dwight and Jennifer at Audrey's. We have a —" He scowled at Duke. "— Situation." 

"Tell him to make sure he has his dad's ring," Duke said. Crocker blinked and frowned, but relayed the message before hanging up. 

"Okay." Crocker sat on the back of the couch. "Now. How about you convince me I didn't just tell my friend to walk into a trap?" 

Duke sighed, sizing up the bottle of scotch. "Whole story's going to require way more booze." His voice had begun to crack again. Dwight found himself swallowing in sympathy. "At least if you want to be able to actually hear it." 

"Oh!" Jennifer raised her hand again, like she was in school. "Hot tea," she said. "With lots of honey." She caught Crocker looking at her and shrugged. "What? It's good for your throat. And he _really_ needs it." 

Duke was giving her that soft, wistful look again. Dwight wondered what Jennifer had meant to him in his version of the future. He was pretty sure whatever it was didn't end well. Dwight knew that particular blend of love and regret. Duke was grieving. 

Dwight still didn't know what he'd meant when he'd brought up Lizzie. 

"That's a great idea," Crocker said, giving Jennifer a much lighter look, full of fondness and budding respect. "Why don't you go grab some downstairs?" 

"You're kicking me out," Jennifer said. "You still think he's dangerous, don't you." 

"It's not a bad idea," Dwight said. "You're still new to this whole Trouble thing. You should give yourself a break for a few minutes, get your mind around everything. It can be a lot." Dwight looked pointedly at the two Dukes. "Even without time travel involved." 

Jennifer let out an indignant noise and looked to Duke for support. He smiled at her gently. "Don't worry. I'll save the juicy stuff for when you get back." 

Jennifer hesitated, then offered him a small, uncertain smile in return. She looked at Crocker and Dwight again, then finally headed out the door. 

"Right," Crocker said, pointing after her. "Does your Nathan plan involve stopping whatever it is that happens to her?" Duke nodded. Crocker nodded back. "Okay then. I'm in."

*

Nathan arrived shortly after Jennifer returned with the tea. He barrelled into the apartment like a rhino, giving it a cursory once over before aiming right for where Crocker still sat on the back of the couch. Dwight didn't think he'd taken in anything other than the fact that Audrey still wasn't here.

"Did Jennifer hear something?" he demanded. "Do you know where Audrey is?" 

"Hello to you too, Nathan," Crocker said. "I see you got my message." 

Dwight let out a soft laugh. Duke blew on his tea. 

"Yeah, he never really loses that intensity." Duke waved when Nathan's gaze snapped up, eyes round as saucers. "Greetings from the future." 

Nathan stared. After a moment, his eyes bounced to Crocker. He looked him over, frowning, then looked back at Duke. "What." 

"Told you it was a situation," Crocker said. 

"Yeah," Nathan said. "No. _What._"

"Take your time." Dwight crossed his arms, unable to hold back his smirk. He was pretty sure he'd handled the two Dukes situation far better than Nathan was. Not that it was a competition, but it was nice to feel a step ahead of Nathan for once. 

Nathan pointed at Duke. "Chameleon?" 

Crocker raised his hand. "Not dead." 

Nathan blinked at him again, then nodded slowly. "But this is a Trouble." 

Duke sighed, gesturing expansively with his mug. "Yes. Obviously this is a Trouble. That doesn't mean I'm not still Duke." 

Nathan stared some more, then stalked over to peer at Duke up close. Duke held his mug to his chest between them like a shield and stared back. Nathan's shoulders jerked up and down in something halfway between a sigh and a shrug. "The hell did you do to your hair?"

Duke sipped his tea. "Bad break up. You know how it is." 

"Totally," Jennifer said, and when they all looked at her, shrank a little into her seat. "What? Don't look at me like that." She pointed to Nathan. "You grew a depression beard!" 

Duke smiled. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that."

Nathan turned and backed up. Trying to get both Dukes into his line of sight at once, Dwight guessed. "You forgot what happened _this morning_." 

"Wasn't this morning for him," Dwight pointed out. "Are we done with the convincing again? Because at some point, I'm going to have to go back to work." 

Nathan backed up again and nearly tripped over Audrey's bed. He covered by sitting down, his hands clenching in the covers. "Sure," he said finally. "For now." 

Duke sighed and looked down into his tea. "Alright. I guess that means it's story time." 

He told it in broad strokes, clearly leaving out details, though whether because they weren't important or to protect parts of the timeline, Dwight wasn't sure. He seemed to hit most of the big things though: Troubles were caused by something caused "aether", which came from "the Void". Audrey and the Barn were from somewhere beyond the Void. The Barn was still intact but falling apart; opening any of the existing doors that could reach it would let in other beings from the Void, and that was bad. 

"Bad," Dwight said. 

"Trust me," said Duke. "You don't want to meet any of these people." 

"Then how do we get Audrey out?" Nathan demanded. 

"I'm getting there." Duke finished his tea, and Jennifer offered him a refill from the coffee carafe she'd brought upstairs. She'd thought ahead — or more likely wanted to avoid any more excuses to leave her out of the conversation. 

Along with doors, the Void could be reached through something Duke called a "thinny", prompting a snort of amusement from Crocker. Duke could use his phasing Trouble and a ring from the other side of the Void to open thinnies on demand. He planned to go into the Void, find Audrey, and bring her back without letting any of the other people follow them out. 

"Wait," Crocker said. "Since when do we have a phasing Trouble?" 

Duke looked at Dwight. "This is why I didn't want to tell it more than once." 

Dwight nodded. "Apparently Duke can use the Troubles that he and his family have 'cured' over the centuries." 

Nathan and Crocker both started talking at once. 

"Since when?" Nathan asked, looking between both Dukes. "You can _control_ them? How?!"

"Phasing is the Coulson family Trouble," Crocker said. He looked pale, horrified and hopeful all at once. "Tell me you didn't." 

Duke swallowed, looking down into his tea. Crocker dropped his head into his hands with a curse. 

"I don't get it," Jennifer said. "Why is this weirder than anything else?" 

Dwight gave her a sympathetic look. He couldn't imagine how hard this all was to keep track of as someone who'd been living a relatively normal life just this morning. "Troubles aren't generally controllable," he explained. "Not without a hell of a lot of focus and emotional control. Managing more than one at a time would be . . . unprecedented, to say the least." More like inhuman. He gave Duke a thoughtful look. Troubles could latch onto pretty much any negative emotion. Not to let something out accidentally, he'd either need to be a zen master — or a psychopath. 

"And to get the Coulson Trouble. . . ." Crocker said, his voice tight. He looked at Jennifer and her wide-eyed concern, then looked away, hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. He seemed unable to finish his sentence. 

"The Crocker Trouble works using blood," Duke said, voice cool and very, very soft. "And death." 

"Hailie Coulton," Nathan said, clearly searching for a memory. "Isn't she —" 

"Yeah." Crocker sounded disgusted. He stared Duke down. "She's a _kid_." 

Jennifer pressed her hand to her mouth. 

"Early twenties," Dwight clarified. "Last I heard, she was living somewhere in Nova Scotia." 

Duke nodded, not looking at anybody. "She was already dying," he said, still in that odd, quiet tone. Dwight knew it was more than throat damage that kept him from speaking any louder. "Not that that helps." 

Crocker ducked his head and Nathan looked away. Dwight wondered what the story was there, then decided he was probably better off not knowing. 

Nathan cleared his throat after a moment. "You said there's a ring?" 

"Yeah." Duke nodded to him, looking relieved at the subject change. "Three of them, actually. Audrey has one. You have another." 

"The third's with Charlotte," Dwight guessed. "Whoever that is." Duke's expression went strange: amused and maybe a little guilty. Dwight filed that away with all the rest of what Duke apparently wasn't telling them. 

Nathan hooked a finger around a chain around his neck Dwight hadn't noticed before. "This one," he said, drawing it out from under his shirt and revealing a delicate gold ring hanging from it. "Audrey and I assumed Lucy gave it to my dad." 

Duke shrugged. "Yeah, probably. I don't know the whole story there." 

Nathan looked at the ring. Stared at it, really, in that intense way he had that always made Dwight worry he was going to do something stupid. "You sure you can use this to get Audrey back?" 

"Without fucking over the rest of us in the process," Duke said wryly. "Yeah." 

Nathan nodded and held it out. "Fine." He pulled it back, just out of reach, when Duke moved to take it. "But I'm coming with you."

*

Crocker put up a fight on that one, but Nathan finally won out. The five of them made plans to meet up on a bluff overlooking the town at sunrise, not far from Kick'Em Jenny Neck, then Jennifer politely kicked them all out. Apparently Crocker had already agreed to let her use the apartment while she was in Haven. Dwight felt faintly guilty about kicking the door in. There was some confusion as to where Duke would stay — both Dukes wanted to lay claim to the Rouge, though Crocker had a slight advantage of being native to this timeline — before Dwight pointed out the panic that a spare Duke Crocker would cause in town and offered to put Duke up in a safe house instead.

Which gave Dwight time to ask the question that he'd so far stubbornly refused to answer, once they were alone. 

"What do you know about Lizzie, Duke?" 

Duke sighed. He'd put on a good show for the group at Audrey's, but Dwight could see the day weighing on him now, and reminded himself that the man sitting in the passenger seat had started the morning as early as Dwight had, and had apparently come back from the dead besides. 

"Nothing, really," he said, barely above a whisper. He'd had to do a lot of talking already on a throat the doctors had said couldn't handle it, and tea and scotch could only do so much. "Not anymore." 

"She's my kid, Duke," Dwight pressed. He had to, no matter what shape Duke was in. "I have to know." 

Dwight thought he saw Duke nod out of the corner of his eye, but he took long enough to answer that Dwight wasn't sure. "The man who . . . founded the Troubles," he said finally. "Who started this whole damn ball rolling. He used one to bring her back. So you'd fight on his side." 

Dwight sucked in a breath. He was a good man. A _loyal_ man. He couldn't imagine many scenarios that could make him turn his back on the people he'd sworn to protect. 

Lizzie starred in every single one of them. 

"She wasn't real," Dwight said, more to reassure himself than anything else. His hands were clenched on the steering wheel, and he had to force himself to loosen them. "That's what you said this morning, right? That she wasn't real." 

Duke went quiet again, and Dwight knew it wasn't that simple. Nothing about the Troubles ever was. 

"No," Duke said finally, his voice thick. He coughed once, then tried again. "You're right. She wasn't real."

*

That should've been it. Dwight should have let it go then, been thankful not to have to face the choice that the Dwight of Duke's time had. Not to have to go through the pain of seeing Lizzie, holding her, and knowing it was all a lie.

He couldn't though. Part of him would always be a desperate father, hoping against all reason that somehow he could have his daughter back. He wasn't even sure if he'd care if that daughter wasn't real. 

He stayed at the safe house that night, though he could easily have asked someone else, one of his officers or a trusted friend from the Guard, to watch over Duke for him. He checked in with the station, confirmed that news of the hospitalized Duke had run head first into news of Crocker's return with Nathan and added up to "weird conflicting rumors" and not "time travel" or even "double Trouble". He supposed he had Vince and Dave to thank for that. They really were rather frighteningly good at hiding the truth. 

He didn't sleep. 

Duke made breakfast in the morning, which was weirdly domestic. Dwight had this image of Duke in a post-apocalyptic future Haven, all crumbling buildings and broken roads, scrounging and bartering for MREs, and it didn't fit with the man standing in the kitchen of a mostly empty house, making omelettes out of the scant groceries Dwight kept it stocked with. Still, he did own a restaurant, and presumably had lived on _something_ during his years at sea. Dwight supposed he shouldn't be surprised. 

Maybe it was the part where Duke made enough to share. Or knew not to put mushrooms in Dwight's without having to ask. 

They ate quickly and hit the road, Duke packing himself an enormous thermos of tea for the drive. He wasn't talking yet, but Dwight gathered his throat still hurt. The bruises on his face had faded to yellow overnight, faint ghosts of fingerprints on his cheek, but the deeper bruising over his adam's apple was still dark, a thick line of purple and black. 

It was a long drive into the hills. Dwight didn't normally have difficulty with silence, but from Duke it was uncomfortable and strange. 

"So," Dwight said, shooting glances at Duke, though it was still too dark to make out details once they were past the lit streets. "What other Troubles are you packing these days?" 

Duke turned his head slowly to look at Dwight, then waited for a moment of eye contact to shrug. "Don't know. Lost a few at the end. Haven't tested them all. "

"How do you lose a Trouble?" Dwight's tone was skeptical, but inside hope soared. If this Duke had a way not just to Audrey, but to an end of the Troubles for good — 

"Painfully," Duke said. Dwight's heart sank. "Croatoan. The — grandfather, I guess, of the Troubles. He took them." 

"That's the founder guy," Dwight guessed. "The one who —" HIs voice caught. "The one who made the fake LIzzie." 

"Mmhm." Duke sipped from his thermos and grimaced, teeth flashing in the dark. "He made my Trouble too, originally. So he could steal everyone else's." 

"But he only got, what, four of them out of you," Dwight said. "How'd you manage that?"

There was another flash of those white, white teeth. "Nathan killed me." 

And that. That right there was where this whole story fell apart for Dwight. Not Nathan killing Duke, after consideration Dwight could see that just fine. Nathan had happily shot Howard, from what Dwight had heard; if it meant protecting Audrey, Dwight honestly wasn't sure there was anyone Nathan wouldn't kill. But the rest of it. . . . "If you were dead," he asked. "How did you get _here?_ What, you've got some Groundhog Day Trouble? Resets you to the day the Barn spit you out?" 

Duke snorted, then coughed. "As good a theory as any," he said. "Wonder how many of me there'll be if I fuck up this time." 

_This time_. Did Duke blame himself for what went down in his future? Was he right to? 

They'd reached the pull off by the bluff. Crocker's truck was already there. Duke moved to climb out, and Dwight caught his wrist. 

"This works," he said. "And we get Audrey back without letting anything else out. That means you're gone, doesn't it? You'll cease to exist." 

Duke smiled, small and sad in the dim glow of the dome light. "Yeah. I'll be done." 

Fuck. Dwight knew that look too. The damned Ghost of Haven Future they were counting on to save the day was suicidal. 

This could go so very wrong. 

Nathan pulled up in his Bronco before Dwight could confront Duke. Crocker and Jennifer were getting out of the Rover. Dwight braced for another headache and climbed out himself. 

"It's a bit of a hike from here," Duke said. He looked at Jennifer and shrugged. "Sorry." 

Jennifer seemed to fold into her jacket, seeming uncomfortable with the idea that Duke knew things about her. "I like hiking." 

It quickly became apparent that she didn't. She moved slowly through the woods, grimacing her way through mud puddles and wincing at snapped sticks. Both Dukes tried offering her a hand, but she refused each time, hanging back and gesturing them on ahead. Nathan took the lead, charging ahead for all that he couldn't know just where they were going, and Dwight took the rear. 

His help, it seemed, Jennifer had no problem with. 

"Sorry," she said, when he caught her mid-trip for the second time. "Guess I'm more of a city girl after all." 

"It's alright," Dwight assured her. "This is rough terrain. Only reason they're so good at this is they grew up here." 

"Did you?" Jennifer asked. "With all the, um. The 'Troubles'?" 

Dwight shrugged. "Sort of. We lived here when I was a kid, but moved away. I'd heard about the Troubles, sure, but had no idea they were real until mine kicked in." 

Jennifer pulled back just a little. Dwight was used to that, wasn't even sure she knew she'd done it. 

It still hurt. 

"You're Troubled?" she asked, carefully nonchalant. 

"Bullet magnet," Dwight said with a nod. "Doesn't matter what you're aiming at, you shoot a gun and I'm around, I'm what you'll hit." 

Jennifer grimaced. "That's horrible." 

"That's the Troubles." 

Jennifer nodded, picking her way over a fallen tree. "It's so weird. Duke, that one, the one I met first, he seems — nice. Kinda weird and totally a criminal, but also kind of sweet?" She looked at Dwight as though for confirmation. All he could do was shrug. "But the other one is just so sad. And creepy. Do you think he really killed that girl? Hailie?" 

Dwight sighed. "Yes. Duke — that one, the one you met first — he's killed too." Jennifer stumbled and stared at him, eyes wide. Dwight shifted to catch her, saw she had her balance again, and backed off. "Not by choice," he said. "Think of it more like. A soldier. Killing in the line of duty." 

That didn't seem to help. "Killing people," she said. "Bullet magnets. I think I liked it better when I was just crazy." 

Dwight tilted his head, waiting for her to start walking again before he followed. "Yeah. I can see that." 

They broke through the tree line and Jennifer caught up with Nathan and the Dukes, face set and determined. Dwight was a little impressed. She was clearly in over her head and hating almost every minute of it, but she wasn't letting that stop her. She had the potential to do just fine here. 

Or maybe Haven would eat her alive. 

"We're here," Duke said, turning full circle to survey the clearing. "Jennifer, can you see the door?" 

Jennifer blinked and copied his movement. "No? Wait. I thought the doors were bad." 

"Yeah," Crocker agreed. Dwight thought he might be trying to get back on Jennifer's good side. "They let the bad people in, remember?" 

Duke sighed. "Right." He pressed his hand to his mouth with a wince. "They do, yeah." 

"That was your back-up plan," Nathan said. "If your . . . 'thinny' didn't work. Risk the door anyway." He seemed relieved by the idea. Willing to put all of Haven at risk again just to get Audrey back. 

"You know me so well." Duke's tone was cynical, but Dwight could hear the truth in it. "Without Audrey, I don't think you'll be able to end the Troubles." 

"Because she has to kill me," Nathan said, and the look Duke shot him was far too furious for someone who'd just told Dwight all about his own suicide-by-Nathan solution. 

"_No,_" Duke hissed, tension and violence in every limb. "That's not going to happen, Nathan, so you can just cross that off your list!" 

Dwight stepped closer, wondering how far Duke might fly off the handle. Crocker put himself between Jennifer and — himself. 

"Hey," Dwight said, falling into the 'defuse and deescalate'' role he'd taken up when he took over for Nathan as Chief of Police. "It's not my favorite plan either, but we know it'll end the Troubles." 

"By _killing everyone,_" Duke said, and under his anger, Dwight could hear despair. "The Barn was never designed to save Haven. It was only built to save _Mara_." He shook, hands in fists, panting softly in the sudden quiet. Everyone on the hill stared at him; he stared hard at Nathan. "No more solutions that involve killing people," he said, voice gone soft again, desperate and oddly — young. Like a child asking to be done with time out. Dwight winced, wondering if Duke could hear his own hypocrisy. 

Nathan could. "No one except you, right?" 

Duke's face fell. "Nathan. I —" 

"He's right." Crocker stepped forward. "This is a suicide run for you." He shook his head. "Man, what _happened_ to you?" 

Duke closed his eyes. "You don't want to know." He reached for Crocker, hand stopping just short of touching his chest over his heart before snatching back. Dwight wondered what would happen if the two Dukes did touch, if time would fold around them. If the universe could possibly be big enough to hold the both of them so close in the same place and time. "If this works, you'll never have to." 

His words hung in the early morning air as the sun spread inland, lighting up the town below. The town Duke Crocker apparently loved enough to return from death itself to save. 

"Um," Jennifer said, bouncing from heel to toe. "Not to be rude, but. Who's Mara?" 

The Dukes looked at her with identical expressions of wonder. Dwight knew then that they both loved her, practically from first sight. 

Maybe she was the one Duke had come back from death to save. 

Dwight just hoped Duke was slightly less obsessively dangerous with his love than Nathan. 

"Mara," Duke said, voice sharp and cracked. "Is an evil, heinous —" He bit off his own words with a shake of his head. "You know what, let's just go with 'Audrey's evil twin' and leave it at that." 

"Oh." Jennifer blinked, taken aback by the viciousness in Duke's voice. She shot Crocker a look and wrapped her arms over her chest. "Okay." 

Nathan tugged Duke back around by his shoulder and held out the chain with his ring on it. "Are we doing this?" 

Duke took the ring and nodded. "Well, to be clear." He stepped back, pointing to Nathan and Crocker. "You two are doing it." 

Crocker blinked and peered at Duke suspiciously. "Seriously? Why?" 

Duke sighed. "I don't know if I can open the thinny from the Void side, and I don't want to leave it open very long." 

Dwight frowned. "What was your plan when you were going in alone?" 

Duke offered him a cheeky smile. "Going alone was never the plan." He looked at Crocker and Nathan. "You two and Audrey. The three of you stick together and everything will be alright." 

Nathan gaped at him, shot Crocker a wary look, and nodded. Crocker swallowed. 

"What the hell, buddy?" he asked, voice wobbling slightly. "Why you gotta give us away like that?" 

Duke shrugged with a sad smile. "We waited too long, last time." He gave Crocker a firm nod then shifted, broadening his stance and grounding himself through his hips and knees. He raised his hands, staring intently at the air a few feet in front of himself. Dwight found he was holding his breath. If this was all a trick or some elaborate ploy. . . .

A shimmer appeared in the air, roiling green mist visible on the other side. Duke nodded to Crocker and Nathan. 

"Go," he said. "Bring her home. And if you meet a creepy blonde guy named William in there . . . kick him in the nuts a couple times for me, would you?" 

Nathan and Crocker exchanged glances. Crocker turned to Jennifer. "I'll be back," he promised. 

Jennifer looked away, flushing, and shrugged. "Good," she said. "Because you _so owe_ me." 

Crocker smiled. "I know." He took a deep breath and stepped forward, vanishing into the fog. 

Nathan gave Duke a searching look. Duke nodded. "I'll open it every hour," he said. "Don't get lost. And _don't_ get me killed." 

Nathan nodded back and stepped through the shimmer. Duke dropped his arms and sagged. The shimmer — the thinny — vanished. 

"So," Jennifer said. "Now what?" 

Duke shrugged. "Now we wait." 

Dwight gave him a searching look. "What happens if your timeline ends and you vanish while they're in there?" 

Duke grimaced. "That would be why I was really hoping Jennifer would be able to see the door."

*

The first hour passed. Duke reopened the thinny and held it until he was too twitchy to continue, then let it close and dropped back to his seat on the ground.

Jennifer paced. "This is a terrible plan. You are _really bad_ at plans!" 

Duke shrugged. "Not usually. This one I kind of made up on the fly." 

"What if you've created a paradox, huh?" Jennifer asked as if he hadn't spoken. "The whole of — of _everything_ could be unravelling as we speak!" 

"I think the space-time continuum is probably a little more robust than that," Duke said. 

"Is Haven?" Dwight asked. Duke wrapped his hands around the back of his neck and didn't answer. 

The second hour passed, and Nathan and Crocker didn't return. Jennifer gave up on pacing and sat down to pick at the grass. Duke made her a clover crown. Dwight considered taking a nap. 

At the end of the third hour, just as Duke opened the thinny, they heard voices. Nathan's, from the Void, shouting Duke's name. And Vince, coming up the hill, shouting Dave's. 

"Shit!" Duke twisted, trying to look over his shoulder while still keeping a hold on the thinny. "Dwight! _Do not_ let Dave near the thinny!" 

"What? Why?" Dwight looked and saw Dave, much closer than he had any right to be, barrelling at them full speed. 

"Duke!" Nathan shouted from the Void again. "We've got her! We're coming!" 

"Shit shit shit shit." Duke shifted, trying to put himself between Dave and the thinny. Dwight grabbed Dave by the waist as he went past, only to find himself dragged forward by a strength that could not possibly be coming from such a small man. Vince crested the hill, panting, several Guard members behind him. 

"Dave!" he shouted. "Stop!" 

"I can't!" Dave wailed. 

"Something's pulling him!" Dwight confirmed. 

"Oh my god, the door!" Jennifer bounced to her feet. "Duke, I see the door!" 

"_Don't open it!_" Duke and — oddly — Dave yelled at the same time. 

"Nathan, hang on!" Duke called into the Void, even as Dave and Dwight stumbled into him. "I have to close —" 

A hand reached through, small and grasping. Audrey's. Duke choked on his words, eyes wide in horror. Dwight went down, dropping deliberately in an attempt to bring Dave down with him. Dave knocked Audrey aside and fell through the thinny. 

The world stuttered, going green and grey. Dwight heard a clap of thunder. Pain erupted in his eyes, and he felt his heart flutter — and _stop_ — 

The moment passed. Dwight breathed. His vision cleared slowly, and he found himself staring up into Dave's face, twisted in a fury that didn't fit the man Dwight knew. 

That wasn't Dave. 

"What?" Audrey asked and Duke — Dwight had no idea which one — whispered "stay back." 

"My god," Vince said, voice soft with despair. "Duke. What have you done?" 

Oh sure, Dwight thought. Blame Duke and not your own idiot brother. He rolled his eyes, trying to catch his breath. Everything hurt. 

"Yes, Duke," Dave said. He didn't even sound like himself. His voice was too slick, too . . . self-assured. "What _have_ you done?" He twisted, jerking spasmodically, as though fighting against restraints. Dwight swallowed bile, fighting to focus through his headache and get the lay of the land. 

Duke — the short-haired one, the one from the nightmare future — stood behind Dave, his hand outstretched, every muscle in his body taut. His skin was paper white and his eyes, pupil, iris, and sclera, were inky black. 

"Puppet master Trouble," he said through clenched teeth. "Guess you didn't take that one." 

Oh God. Dwight swallowed again and told himself to move. Dave was one of the Void creatures Duke had warned them about. They'd let one of them _through_. 

"I guess not!" Dave said, all surprise and greasy delight. "I'd given up hope for you, Duke." He craned his neck to look at Crocker, who stood like a shield in front of Jennifer, one arm stretched towards where Audrey was wrapped in Nathan's arms. Dwight blinked. Audrey didn't look right, either, not quite like the woman Dwight remembered. How many? How many people had Duke's plan just gotten killed? 

"You seemed like such a sorry excuse for a Crocker," Dave said. "No bloodlust at all. Tell me." He straightened in jerks and slowly turned, mouth twisted into a leer. "Where did you get such wonderful toys? You should be as dead inside as your twin. To activate all that aether, you'd need — well. _Me._" 

Duke shook from head to toe. His nose was bleeding. Whatever he was doing, it was taking everything he had. "Not you." He sounded like he was speaking from the bottom of a well full of gravel. "_Audrey_ —" 

Audrey gasped. Nathan held on to her tighter. 

"Audrey?" Dave said, as though someone had told him he'd won a Pulitzer. "Dove! Is this true?" 

Audrey shook her head. "Who are you? What did you do to Dave?" 

"Oh don't worry," Dave said. He beamed at her. "I'm only borrowing him. But if this is truly your work. . . ." He grinned at Duke and crooked his finger. Duke groaned deep in his throat. Something black and slick slipped from his right eye and drifted in the air between them. "Oh Dove, he's _marvelous._ And with so little to work with!" He crooked his finger again, and another black slick peeled off Duke's eye, joining the first. They drifted lazily towards Dave. Duke let out a choked whine. 

"Stop it!" Audrey pulled against Nathan's grip, reaching for Duke, even as Crocker grabbed onto her to help hold her back. "I didn't do anything to him!" 

"Audrey," Duke said again, a benediction. A plea. "_Help me._" Dwight saw it in his eyes then, past that eerie black. He was in the battle of his life, and he was losing. Dwight flexed his fingers, hoping against hope that his hands still worked. 

Audrey wrenched against Nathan and Crocker. "Duke!" she called back. "I don't know _how!_" 

"I'll teach you, Dove," Dave promised. He took an unsteady step forwards, reaching for the black blobs. Duke let out a strangled noise, his knees buckling. 

Dwight's fingers reached his taser. He yanked it free and fired. Dave dropped, twitching. Duke grabbed desperately for the black blobs with both hands, then stared at the splotches they made on his palms. They vanished into his skin like blood absorbed by the Crocker Trouble, and Duke smiled even as he crumpled to the grass. 

Everyone moved at once. Vince ordered the Guard to restrain Dave. Audrey broke free from Nathan, staggering a single step before dropping to her knees. Crocker swayed in place, torn between her and Jennifer, who was backing away with both hands pressed to her mouth. Dwight wobbled to his knees, steadying himself with a hand pressed to Duke's chest. 

Duke's eyes fluttered open, once again their usual deep brown. "Is that it?" Dwight asked him. "Did you do what you came back for?" 

Duke didn't seem to understand. "Lizzie," he gasped. "You have — to believe —" His chest jerked as he struggled to breathe. 

Dwight shifted his hand to Duke's shoulder, shaking him. "Believe _what?_" Duke coughed, and then heaved in another breath. Nathan and Audrey were suddenly there before Dwight could ask him again. 

"What's next?" Nathan asked, tapping Duke's cheek. "Duke! How do we stop the Troubles?!" 

Duke coughed again, a wet sound. Dwight wasn't sure where or how he was injured, exactly, but he knew they didn't have much time. "Charlotte," Duke said. "Charlotte Cross." 

Audrey looked at Nathan, eyes full of fear and endless confusion. Dwight wondered how much he and Crocker had managed to catch her up on in the Void. 

Nathan didn't look at her, his hand now cupping Duke's cheek. "We'll find her," he promised. "The three of us. Just like you said." 

Duke nodded. His back arched and he let out a low whine, reaching out with both hands. Audrey caught one. The other found Dwight's wrist. Dwight leaned in. 

"Lizzie," Duke said again. "I lied. She's — she's real." Dwight shook his head, grabbing Duke's hand as his eyes lost focus. 

"You said a Trouble brought her back." Dwight squeezed Duke's hand until he looked at him again. "Whose?" 

Duke shook his head, choking. Dwight didn't breathe until Duke managed to inhale again. "Find it," Duke said, eyes falling closed. "Believe." 

He went still. 

"Duke?" Audrey pressed his limp hand to her chest. "Duke!" 

Dwight straightened, looking past Duke's body to the live version, standing shell shocked with Jennifer a few feet away. "It's okay, Audrey." She looked up, eyes full of tears, and he nodded over. "He's still here." 

Audrey sobbed and stumbled to her feet. Jennifer stepped away just in time for Audrey to throw herself into Crocker's arms. Dwight looked at Nathan, who still knelt across from him. He met Dwight's gaze with a shaky one of his own. 

"Kinda thought he'd fade out," he said, nodding down to the body. "Don't know how we're going to explain this." 

Dwight slowly climbed to his feet, fighting through a wave of vertigo. He didn't think he'd ever felt worse than he did just now, even in Afghanistan. His _eyes_ hurt. "We'll handle it," he said. "We always do." He nodded to Dave, who seemed to be back to himself now, trembling in cuffs on the ground by Vince's feet. "That might be harder." 

"What happened?" Dave asked, staring at the Duke's body in horror. "Oh god. What did I do?!" 

"Do you think —" Nathan started. "Was that William?" 

"No," Dwight said. "The other one." Croatoan, Duke had said. Damn stupid name. "What happened with. . . ?" He nodded to Audrey. 

"Found her in a bar," Nathan said, bemused. "Calling herself 'Lexie'. Nothing else in there was real." 

"She's Audrey now, though," Dwight said. 

"Yeah." Nathan shrugged uncomfortably. "Duke." 

"Makes sense. Guy can talk you into anything." 

Nathan looked over at Crocker — Duke, the only one left — still trying to juggle both Audrey and Jennifer a few feet away. Dwight did not envy anyone in that little . . . situation. "He even managed to talk himself." 

They both looked down to Duke's body on the ground, utterly solid and utterly still. Dwight suddenly wondered if he hadn't faded because so many of them had believed in him. 

"Even himself," Dwight agreed. 

He'd let Nathan take point on Charlotte Cross. He was going to find that Trouble, get his Lizzie back, and never let go of her again. 

He was going to believe.


End file.
